"Enemy combatant" lawyers file petition alleging torture

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:34:58 CSTBy: AP

A civil liberties group today asked the Organization of American States' human rights commission to investigate the US government for what it says are violations of the rights of convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla. The American Civil Liberties Union says the US violated Padilla's rights when it labeled him an "enemy combatant" a decade ago, and subjected him to interrogation that amounted to torture, including sleep and sensory deprivation in solitary confinement. The watchdog legal group says it filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The ACLU's Jamil Dakwar says it is the first such petition filed by an American citizen against the US government alleging torture and abuse. Padilla is a one-time Chicago gang member who was detained in 2002 in Chicago and later designated an "enemy combatant." He was convicted in 2007 of supporting terrorism in Kosovo, Bosnia and Chechnya and is serving a 17-year sentence.